This will be my first winter Geocaching. Skaven is reved up for winter caching, so I guess I'll have to go out. I'm not much of a winter person so any tips for transporting a small furnace while caching would be appreciated. Are flame throwers required to reveal snow covered caches? I don't see any safety tips on flame thrower use.

I'm not one for caching in the winter unless it was urban but I do have some safety paranoia about caching even in our provincial parks and anywhere in the woods.MHz and I recently ran across hunters which was a bit unnerving. I also had an incident where I was caching in the woods where it was fairly dense.Even though I had "marked" the location of my vehicle {and had a cell phone } I let myself get a bit anxious.I lost my gps signal .Although logic told me basically what route to take,I still ended up coming out of the woods shaken up and with a nasty case of hives. I'd like to learn some caching safely tips and how best to deal with a situation like I had.One thing I did learn from the experience was that its best to cache with a buddy in the woods!

First - I had to go and look up Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). Introduced from Eurasia in 1917 and considered a noxious weed with a distribution in the US (CT, NY, PA, OR, WA, ME, MI, DC) and Canada on both coasts and inland in eastern Canada. Fortunately I could not find a reference for this weed in Manitoba yet. Similar looking to the native cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) but much larger.

Quoted from BEN No. 314 Sept 23, 2003 "H. mantegazzianum produces light-activated chemicals (furanocoumarins) in its leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds which can cause minor to severe contact dermatitis in combination with exposure to sunlight (Camm et al. 1976; Towers 1980). Furanocoumarin-induced dermatitis typically consists of blisters that form within 48 hours and become pigmented (blackened or purplish) scars that can last as long as 6 years (Tiley et al. 1996). Longterm sensitivity to sunlight may follow. The highest concentrations of furanocoumarins are present in leaves and roots during the early part of the growing season (Knudsen 1983)." Sounds like it could be pretty nasty.

I think there needs to be at least a quick clarification of the difference between the few coniferous trees that we have - pines, spruce, tamarack, cedar.

Those things aside I agree with some of the earlier comments and would support the use of regular map and compass work (or what to do when GPSr gets dropped and stops working). Some of the other things that people should know (e.g. datums, projections, co-ordinate systems) if they want to use GPS for other things beyond geocaching with WGS84. This is really important for those of us still dealing with old maps using NAD27. I personally like UTM for position location when working with topographic maps.

If we as geocachers are heading off on to trails less travelled what we should bring incase we have to spend an unexpected night in the bush. How about footwear or why rubber boots are a bad idea for a hike. How to pack for an overnight trip. How many of us carry a first aid kit (or have any idea what should be in one) and know how to use the contents. I am not suggesting a first aid course just some pointers. At least a couple of times I have had to light a fire in conditions that were less than optimal - some survival requirements when the unexpected hits.

Interesting question that came up on my last canoe trip (last weekend) was about no-trace, minimal trace camping. What do we mean by these terms.

What should we wear - cold/hot dry/rainy and unknown conditions.

In some parts of Manitoba is it better to hike/walk or look for a boat (canoe or kayak). I am thinking eastern and northern Manitoba.

Finally something close to my heart (my stomach). What should we bring to eat. Again for day trips and multiple day trips. Related to this is what do we cook over - I like a fire but still bring a stove in case there is no fire pit or really bad conditions.

I would be willing to provide assistance with a course. I don't do much hiking since most of my time is spent sitting in a canoe and my equipment is not good for carrying long distances.

Well chuck I guess I had it comming. That old addage, Carefull what you wish for it just might come true, comes to mind.

All of your ideas are great and I hope "WE" will be sure to touch on a lot of them. I am seeing that it will be hard to please everyone. But I think that if you walk away from this course having learned only a few pointers to keep you safe, it's better than nothing at all.

I don't expect to turn people into Grizzly Adams in a one afternoon course. I'm sure you will leave picking up some tips that will aply to your style of getting away from it all.

I will send an email later today but I thought I would point out that junglehair also mentioned she would be willing to help with more advanced GPS. I seem to remember her background was in GIS so she would have some great ideas.

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